President Jacob Zuma has signed proclamations authorising the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to investigate certain matters in respect of the affairs of two district municipalities and a provincial department.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has appealed to miners to reject expelled ANCYL leader Julius Malema's "hogwash" and return to work.

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"Thousands of miners stand to lose their jobs due to irresponsible
comments by Malema and his ilk," spokesman Lesiba Seshoka said.

Speaking to striking workers at Gold Fields' Driefontein mine
outside Carletonville, on Tuesday, Malema called on all workers to strike.

"There must be a national strike at all the mines until
Frans Baleni and the NUM leadership step down with immediate effect,"
Malema told the workers.

Baleni is the union's secretary-general.

The union said Malema's statement was "irresponsible".

"His call on workers to embark on illegal strikes is
totally irresponsible and childish.

"We condemn his attack on NUM leadership and the behaviour
of taking advantage of vulnerable people to score cheap political points."

Seshoka said it was "fallacious" for Malema to claim
that Baleni owned shares in the mining sector, or that he received money from
mining houses.

"The claim that Baleni sits on boards of mining houses is
untrue. We will investigate all these claims and take appropriate legal
action."

The mine employed around 15 000 people, and 80% of them
belonged to NUM.

Among their demands, handed in the previous day, was that the
NUM leadership at their branch be replaced.

A group of up to 1 500 workers, who were NUM members,
brought their grievances directly to management.

"They are doing this outside of the formal NUM
structures," company spokesman Sven Lunsche said.

At the same time, the union's regional leaders were at the mine
trying to resolve the situation. They held meetings on Monday and Tuesday.

Lunsche said a similar scenario had played out at KDC East mine
last week. A demand there was also that the NUM branch leadership be removed.
That was resolved after intervention by NUM, and workers returned to their
posts.